An exact replica of perhaps the most famous green in the world can be found at the TPC Sawgrass practice facility, and Scottie Scheffler was about to take another look at it. He had conquered the original, hole 17, only 123 meters long and surrounded by a huge pond, three quarters of an hour earlier, which is why he now found himself in a waiting pattern that is typical of golf: Scheffler had to stay warm on practice 17, if there was anything left one of its competitors should draw level and a play-off would be needed to determine the winner of the Players Championship.
It therefore seemed somewhat unpretentious when, a few moments after one of his holding shots, Scheffler looked up at his manager, who gave him the news: his competitors had not managed to stop him from defending his title.
Scheffler, 27, knows from last year that it can feel different to win this most famous of all tournaments on the PGA Tour. Back then, he walked through the final hole on Sunday afternoon with a comfortable five-shot lead, tens of thousands of people around him and his entire family. “It later looked in the photos as if I had cheered in the direction of the audience, but in reality I was just looking at Meredith the whole time,” said Scheffler at the beginning of the week about his triumph from the previous year when he was at the moment Victory only thought about his wife. Anyone who wanted could discover a fine individual characterization in it.
Scheffler only wants to play one role: that of the best golfer in the world
This is what golf is about more often than ever before Why. Why do you want to win as an athlete, what is the motivation behind all the work it takes to get to the top? In many cases the answer can now be measured in dollar bills; both the Saudi Arabians and the Americans throw money around with such freedom that athletes naturally mutate into money sharks. On the other hand, there are purists who want to distance themselves from this development. They answer that they want to achieve their sporting successes for the people, for the spectators and the future generation. And then there’s Scottie Scheffler.
From everything we know about him, the down-to-earth, devout Texan would be far from measuring his own success in banknotes. Like any other athlete, Scheffler likes to take what is offered to him, but after the $50 million in prize money he has now earned in his career, money is certainly not (anymore) the biggest motivation. Neither is the public. Scheffler doesn’t style himself as a super-character, he doesn’t make speeches, he doesn’t travel around the world to promote the sport, he isn’t overly politically involved in the dispute with the Saudis. Scheffler doesn’t want to play any role except the one that suits him so well: the role of the best golfer in the world.
“The way he hits balls is on a different level than anyone else right now,” Rory McIlroy said last week of Scheffler’s natural ability to get the timing in his swing. Everything seems to flow with him, in his own unique way: Scheffler moves his feet in the middle of the swing, something that every amateur is normally advised against from the first golf lesson – but Scottie’s Dancing Move works extremely well for him. He seems almost unbeatable when he gets his only weakness – putting on the greens – under control. Last week he dominated the Arnold Palmer Invitational on a course that was just as difficult as he did this week in Ponte Vedra Beach, where he played an almost unbelievable eight shots below the course standard on Sunday.
Scheffler later said that days like this were “a lot of fun” for him. They are not crucial for his life: “If I had flown home with second place today, it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Scheffler simply plays golf as well as he can; he says he loves life on the tour and competing with the other players. He says: “If I started taking my trophies and throwing them around the house and acting out, my wife would probably hit me in the head and tell me to calm down.”
Scheffler’s first child will be born in a few weeks
In her husband’s cosmos, Meredith Scheffler may be the answer to the question in two ways Why. On the one hand, why Scheffler remains down to earth despite his successes – and why he continues relentlessly, with a clear view of a potentially historically great future that promises far more than money. In a few weeks the Masters awaits in Augusta, where he won in 2022 and said back then that Meredith had helped him out of a panic attack with an emotional speech the morning before the final round.
Meredith may not be in Augusta this time; she is expecting the couple’s first child in a few weeks. But Scheffler was able to prepare for that in Ponte Vedra. When he learned of his triumph, on the practice range, she was away from him for just a moment. Which is why, after a brief celebration with his manager and his caddy, he immediately looked around in the direction of the large clubhouse, where he expected them to be.
“Where is Mer?” he shouted – then he buried his joyful face in his hands in disbelief.